Knight Tactics
From medieval manuscripts to the gameplay mechanics of
Who am I?
Alexandre Boureau
“Solo dev” of Zodiac Legion
Table of contents
01
02
03
04
Making the battlefield safe
Fighting in plate armor
About overcoming armor
Weapons and techniques
Fighting in group
Men at arms in late medieval battles
Working around what we don’t know
The fog of war
Fighting in plate armor
01
It’s all about workplace safety
How it all started
What we wanted:
How long were typical knightly duels?
Jacques fought Jehan de Villeneuve
How Jean de Villeneuve fought against the Jacques de Lalaing
“The combat continued until around 55 blows had been exchanged. It was a pleasure to see them fight, as they spared nothing."
Weren’t they fencing with safe weapons?
1449, Jacques de Lalaing vs Thomas Que
"The point entered the underside of his gauntlet,
piercing entirely through and cutting the nerves
and veins.“
100% DR armor�
The weak points of armor�
Damage model
Encumbrance
Conclusions:
Source: Obstacle Run in Armour
By Daniel Jacquet
The helmet dilemma
Armet
Barbute
Armor economics
Plate armor limits:
Armor�Customization
Weapons and techniques
02
Stick’em with the pointy end
Weapon selection
Making �weapons�distinct
Blunt weapons and plate armor
On the importance of grappling
Why even bother with weapons?
In 1448,
Jeacques de Lalaing face Jean de Boniface
"Jacques kept driving him back with the point
of his axe, so that de Boniface was unable to
reach him."
Experimental archeology�
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DbRsLor8SE
Footage from Norwich HEMA society
Thrusts with the butt spike
Half-swording
Disarming
Wrestling
Alternate attacks
Along with swings:
The grappling animation problem
Men-at-arms in late medieval battles
03
« My kingdom for a horse »
Group combat
How do your techniques evolve in the press ?
Isolate, overwhelm,cascade
Montendre, 1402 (French vs English):
7 French vs 7 Angevin:
4 duels and two 2v1.
The English leader is killed instantly by a
poleaxe hit to the head
Breaking the formation
Combat of the thirty, 1351:
30 Britton French men-at-arms vs
30 Britton English men-at-arms
The battle is decided when a French squire
Remounts and breaks the English formation
About Agincourt…
Many contributing factors on top of longbows vs plate:
“And for that reason, a foot battle should never advance; it must always await its enemy infantry close by. For when they are marching, they are not all of equal strength and cannot keep their formation—it takes but a single bush to break their ranks.”[…]�“An army that marches out against another is defeated unless God grants it His grace.”
Formations: Support and flanking
This inspired our support system:
Death of knights
Plate is very hard to penetrate but
Sometimes, you don’t need penetration
To kill the wearer.
Source: Tod’s workshop
One handers and shields
One hander and shields:
Designing dungeons as a protracted battle
Single encounter dungeon
The fog of war
04
Limits on what we can infer
Sources and their limits
The issues:
What we know
Filling the blanks…
Instead of trying to balance fun and history:
…with magic!
How to use it?
From Manuscripts to mechanics
Links and presentation support